Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
It is common for a point of sale (POS) system to include two types of barcode scanner: a desktop scanner—such as an in counter bi-optic scanner—and a handheld scanner. These scanners each provide scanning beam for selectively reading barcodes. Where a scanning beam is appropriately directed toward a barcode, the barcode is read and an information packet provided to a processing unit.
Typically, a bi-optic scanner is provided for high performance throughput, allowing a large number of conventional items to be scanned in quick succession. The handheld scanner is provided for occasions where an item generally unsuitable for scanning using the bi-optic scanner. For example: particularly heavy items that are better scanned whilst contained in a shopping cart. Handheld scanners are particularly useful in such situations given their inherent portability. Which of the scanners is used for a particular item is typically based on an immediate determination of efficiency.
In known retail systems, the handheld scanner is only of use when manually held, and is typically otherwise disabled.